March 3, 2025
Monday of the Eighth
Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 347
Reading 1
To the penitent God provides a way back,
he encourages those who are losing hope
and has chosen for them the lot of truth.
Return to him and give up sin,
pray to the LORD and make your offenses few.
Turn again to the Most High and away from your sin,
hate intensely what he loathes,
and know the justice and judgments of God,
Stand firm in the way set before you,
in prayer to the Most High God.
Who in the nether world can glorify the Most High
in place of the living who offer their praise?
Dwell no longer in the error of the ungodly,
but offer your praise before death.
No more can the dead give praise
than those who have never lived;
You who are alive and well
shall praise and glorify God in his mercies.
How great the mercy of the LORD,
his forgiveness of those who return to him!
Responsorial Psalm
R. (11a) Let the just exult and rejoice in the
Lord.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Let the just exult and rejoice in the Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up,
knelt down before him, and asked him,
""Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?""
Jesus answered him, ""Why do you call me good?
No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
you shall not defraud;
honor your father and your mother.""
He replied and said to him,
""Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.""
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
""You are lacking in one thing.
Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor
and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.""
At that statement, his face fell,
and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
""How hard it is for those who have wealth
to enter the Kingdom of God!""
The disciples were amazed at his words.
So Jesus again said to them in reply,
""Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
“Then who can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said,
“For men it is impossible, but not for God.
All things are possible for God.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030325.cfm
Sirach 17:24-29
Today’s reading from Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) is a call to
the sinner to repent and come back to God. There is an implication by the
author that the Lord will postpone death for a repentant sinner so that he may
fulfil his destiny of praising God on earth. In the light of Christian
teaching, the gift of final penitence extends this divine purpose into a life
with God that never ends.
If we truly repent of the wrong we have done, we can be sure
that God’s door is open to receive us back. This is beautifully expressed in
Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. A
realisation of this should help to dispel any loss of hope which we might have
in God’s mercy and compassion.
So we are urged to turn back to the Lord, to convert, to
pray in his presence—to leave behind our sinful ways and thereby lessen the
effects of our wrongdoing.
Turn back to the Lord and forsake your sins;
pray in his presence and lessen your offense.
We do that, above all, by totally identifying ourselves with
God and hating “intensely what is abhorrent”, i.e. morally loathsome.
Reflecting the belief of the Jews at the time, the author
asks how we can give praise to God once we are in “Hades” (in Hebrew, Sheol,
the place of the dead). Sheol (Hades) was understood as a place of no escape
and a place where one could no longer actively serve and love God. We are told:
From the dead, as from one who does not exist,
thanksgiving has ceased; those who are alive and well sing the Lord’s praises.
We believe:
How great is the mercy of the Lord
and his forgiveness for those who return to him.
If we die in communion with God, he will take us to himself
and we will live in unspeakable happiness with him forever.
How foolish of us, then, to act sinfully instead of spending
our lives in the praise and service of God! But there is still time for us to
turn away from the wrongs we do and to experience the compassion and the
forgiveness of God, which is waiting there for us. Only then can we give God
the praise which is his due. We cannot praise God and at the same time act in
ways which are contrary to his wishes for us. Now is the time
to give praise to God when we have the opportunity.
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Commentary on Mark
10:17-27
Today we have the story of a rich man, that is, a man who
believed he was rich or who believed that in his material wealth was his
happiness. He was a well-meaning man and asked Jesus:
Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
“You know the commandments”, says Jesus and then proceeds to
list only those commandments which involve our relations with others, omitting
those relating directly to God: not killing; not committing adultery; not
stealing; not bearing false witness; not defrauding; respecting parents. And
the man responds:
Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.
He was indeed a good man insofar as he did respect his
parents and he did not do any of the sinful things mentioned.
Jesus looked at the man with a real love. This is not
a love of affection or attraction. It is the love of agape, a
love which desires the best possible thing for the other. This man was
good, but Jesus wanted him to be even better. So he said to him:
You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money
to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.
On hearing this, the man’s face clouded over. He walked
slowly away full of sadness because he was very rich. Jesus had asked him
for the one thing he could not give up. He had asked for the one thing which
the man believed showed he was specially blessed by God. The man had not
expected this.
After he had gone, Jesus looked at his disciples and said:
How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter
the kingdom of God!
Now it was his disciples’ turn to be alarmed and shocked.
The whole tradition of their society at that time believed that wealth was a
clear sign of God’s blessings; poverty was a curse from God.
Jesus removes any misunderstanding on their part:
Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is
rich to enter the kingdom of God.
In other words, quite impossible. This was really too
much for them. The Apostles:
…were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then
who can be saved?”
If those who have done well in this life cannot be saved,
what hope can there be for the losers? It would take them time to learn
the truth of Jesus’ words. And it is a lesson that many of us Christians
still have to learn.
And we might ask, Why is it so difficult for a rich person
to enter the Kingdom of God? Is there something wrong with being
rich? The answer depends on what meaning we give to ‘rich’ and to
‘Kingdom of God’.
A person at a lower economic class level in Europe or the
United States may be extremely wealthy with the same resources if living in
some African or Asian countries. Similarly a ‘rich’ peasant in a remote
village may live a life that is primitive compared to a family on welfare in
Europe.
When Jesus uses the word ‘rich’, he means people who have
more, a lot more, than those around them, and especially when many of those do
not have enough for their basic needs. For a person to cling to their material
goods in such a situation, to enjoy a relatively luxurious standard of living while
those around are deficient in food and housing, is in contradiction to
everything that Jesus and the Kingdom stand for.
And we need to emphasise that the ‘Kingdom of God’ here is
not referring to a future life in ‘heaven’. Jesus is not saying that a rich
person cannot go to heaven. He is concerned with how the rich person is
living now. The Kingdom is a situation, a set of relationships where
truth and integrity, love and compassion and justice and the sharing of goods
prevail, where people take care of each other.
The man in the story said that he kept the
commandments. One should notice that, except for one, all are expressed
negatively. The man could observe several of them by doing nothing! Jesus
was asking him to do something very positive, namely, to share his prosperity
with his brothers and sisters in need—and that he was not prepared to do.
As such, he was not ready for the Kingdom. He could not be a follower of
Jesus. Nor can anyone else who is in a similar situation.
We might also add that the teaching applies not only to
individuals, but to communities and even nations. There are countries in
the world today enjoying very high levels of prosperity with all kinds of
consumer luxuries available while a very large proportion of the rest of the
world lives mired in poverty, hunger and disease. It is one of the major
scandals of our day. This is not a Kingdom situation and much of it is
caused not by an uncaring God, or natural causes, but by human beings who just
refuse to share their surplus wealth. As has been said, the really rich
are those whose needs are the least.
A final reflection. We may feel that, in our society,
we personally could by no stretch of the imagination be called rich and so the
story does not apply to us. But we can cling to other things besides
money. I might profitably ask myself today if there is anything at all in
my life which I would find very difficult to give up if God asked it of me. It
might be a relationship, it might be a job or position, or it might be good
health.
To be a disciple of Jesus means that he is asking me to
follow him unconditionally, without any strings, ready to let go of anything
and everything (although he may not actually ask me to do so). It is the
readiness that counts. The man in the story did not even seem to have
that. Should a Catholic be a millionaire? What do you think? What
do you think Jesus’ answer would be?
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o1082g/
Monday, March 3, 2025
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord, guide the course of world events and give Your Church
the joy and peace of serving You in freedom. You live and reign with the Father
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading -
Mark 10: 17-27
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt
down before him, and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one
is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall
not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you
shall not defraud; honor your
father and your mother."
He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I
have observed from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to
him, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to
the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At
that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many
possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it
is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God!" The disciples
were amazed at his words. So, Jesus again said to them in reply,
"Children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel
to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom
of God." They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves,
"Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For men
it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God."
Reflection
The Gospel today narrates two events: (a) it tells the story
of a rich man who asks how to obtain eternal life (Mk 10: 17-22), and (b) Jesus
warns on the danger of riches (Mk 10: 23-27). The rich man does not accept the proposal
of Jesus because he was very rich. A rich person believes he is protected by
the security which is given to him by his riches. He has difficulty opening his
hand and detaching himself from this security. He seizes the advantage of his
goods and lives being concerned about defending his own interests. A poor
person is not accustomed with this concern. But there may also be
some poor people who have the mentality of the rich. Then,
the desire for riches creates in them dependence and makes them become slaves
of consumerism. They have no time to dedicate themselves to the service of
neighbor. Keeping these problems in mind, problems of persons and of countries,
let us read and meditate on the text of the rich man.
• Mark 10: 17-19 - The observance of the commandments and
eternal life. A person came up to Jesus and asked: “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Gospel
of Matthew tells us that it was the case of a young man (Mt 19: 20-22). Jesus
responds abruptly: “Why do you call Me
good? No one is good but God alone!” Jesus takes away the attention from
Himself to direct it toward God, because what is important is to do God’s will,
to reveal the Father’s plan. Then Jesus affirms: “You
know the commandments: You shall not kill. You shall not commit
adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false witness. You shall not
defraud. Honor your father and mother.” It is
important to always observe the response of Jesus. The young
man had asked something concerning eternal life. He wanted to live together with God. But Jesus does not
mention the first three commandments which define our relationship with God! He
mentioned only those which indicate respect for the life lived together with others. According to
Jesus, we can only be well with God if we know how to be well with our neighbor.
It serves nothing to deceive ourselves. The door to reach God is our neighbor.
• Mark 10: 20 - What good is it to observe the commandments?
The young man answered that he observed the commandments since his earliest
days. What is strange is what follows. He wanted to know which was the way to
eternal life. Now, the way of life
was, and continues to be, to do God’s will expressed in the commandments. It means that he observed the commandments without
knowing for what purpose. Otherwise, he would not have asked any questions.
This is what can happen today to many Catholics: they do not know what it means
to be Catholic. “I was born in a Catholic country; this is why I am Catholic!”
It is mindless!
• Mark 10: 21-22 - To
share the goods with the poor and to follow Jesus. Hearing the response of the
young man, “Jesus looked at him and was full of love for him and said: You need
to do one more thing: go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor
and you will have a treasure in heaven, then come, follow Me!” The observance
of the commandments is only the first step of a
stairway that goes higher. Jesus asks more! The observance
of the commandments prepares the person for the total gift of self on behalf of neighbor. Jesus asks for much, but
he asks it with much love. The rich young man does not accept the proposal of
Jesus and goes away not just because he was a man of great wealth, but because
he valued that wealth above all others.
• Mark 10: 23-27 - The camel and the eye of the needle.
After the young man left, Jesus commented on His decision: “How
hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were astounded. Jesus repeats
the same phrase and adds: “It is easier
that a camel passes through the eye of a needle than for someone rich to enter
the kingdom of God!”
• The expression
“enter the kingdom” not only indicates in the first-place entrance into heaven
after death, but also and above all, the entrance into the community around
Jesus. The community is and should be a model of the Kingdom. The reference to
the impossibility for a camel to pass
through the
eye of a needle
comes from a popular proverb of the time used by the people to say that a thing
was, humanly speaking, impossible and unfeasible.
The disciples were
astounded by hearing this and they ask themselves: “Then who can be saved?” This is a sign that they had not
understood the response of Jesus to the young rich man: “Go, sell all you all you own and give the money to the poor and then
come follow me.”
The young man had observed the commandments since his
earliest days, but without
understanding the reason for this observance. Something similar was happening
to the disciples. They had already abandoned all their goods as Jesus had asked
the young rich man, but without understanding the
reason, the why of
this abandonment. If they had understood, they would not have been astounded at
the demands of Jesus. When riches, or the desire for riches, occupies the heart
and the gaze, the person cannot perceive the sense of the Gospel. Only God can
help! Jesus looks at the disciples and
says: “Impossible for man but not
for God. For God everything is possible.”
Personal Questions
• Can someone who
lives constantly concerned about her wealth, or who lives always wanting to buy
all the things the television advertises, free herself from everything to
follow Jesus and live in peace in a Christian community? Is it possible? How do
you do it and what are the steps?
• Do you know
somebody who has succeeded in abandoning everything for the sake of the
Kingdom? What does it mean for us today: “Go, sell all you own, and give the
money to the poor”? How can we understand and practice this?
• Does this instruct
communities as well, or just individuals? How would a community “abandon
everything” and still carry on its mission?
Concluding Prayer
I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart, in the
meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly. Great are the deeds of Yahweh,
to be pondered by all who delight in them. (Ps 111: 1-2) to the living God. (Ps
84: 2)
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